


A Shadow Lingers

by Stephicness



Series: Ardyn and Tabby [4]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Headcanon, Parent-Child Relationship, Prequel, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-14
Updated: 2017-01-14
Packaged: 2018-09-17 12:02:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9322709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stephicness/pseuds/Stephicness
Summary: After chasing after the little one's tickle antics, Ardyn finds himself eavesdropping on a conversation he wasn't supposed to hear.





	

Ardyn had known that the little girl had a head start over him, but _goodness._ He didn’t realize just how fast she could run. Especially when she was holding two cats in her arms. Albeit, one of them was a doll, but that other cat probably weighed just as much as the little girl did. And across such a large city, she could be anywhere by now. A native of the city had the upper hand against a foreign face like Ardyn. He was at a loss after he had scared the little one off. She shouldn’t be too far though, right? Ardyn rubbed the back of his neck as his eyes wandered up and down the darkening streets. …Right?

The sound of talking down one of the alleyways was enough to get the red-haired man to stop, raising an eyebrow out of curiosity before he presses himself against the bricks to hide. An older gentlemen, he noted, but the familiar tone of the child he was trying to catch and tickle torture. His eyes narrowed as he peered around the corner to get a glimpse of the scene. With how the little one stood there, face to face with the man, it seemed as if she knew him. Their dialogue suggested it even more so as Ardyn eavesdropped.

“Where the hell is she, you little brat? Two weeks without any word, and she thinks she can just forget about me? How dare that woman!”

“Maybe she just didn’t wanna talk to a mean man like you.” The child provoked a growl from the man when she turned around with an audible ‘hmph’ in her tone. “Mama is busy, so you leave her alone, ya meanie.”

The man took the child’s words as an insult, gritting his teeth as he gripped her forearm and pulled her back with enough force to where she dropped Squishy onto his paws. The cat hissed at the man in response, even more so as he shook the little girl hard enough to where she yelped. “If it weren’t for me, that whore mother of yours wouldn’t be able to feed your disrespectful little mouth! How dare she avoid me after taking my money and generosity for granted! So you tell me where she is right this instant, or I’ll-“

_CRASH!_

The noise was enough to cease the man’s yelling and turn his attention from the little girl to Ardyn as he approached. A shame the crates had to suffer for it, but better those than the little one. Ardyn adjusted his cuffs as he approached, undoing them as he subtly rolled them up while eying the child. “Little one! There you are. I was beginning to fret because of how late it was getting.”

The little girl seemed to perk up the moment the other man revealed himself from the shadows, attempting to rush over to him. But her arm was pulled back again as she was dragged behind the other man. The man let out a growl, eyes narrowing at Ardyn. “Who the fuck are you?”

“Me?” The red-haired man chuckled, tilting his head in amusement as he gave a low bow. “Ardyn Izunia. A pleasure to know that there’s men far viler than myself in this world.” He looked up again, gaze narrowing and glinting momentarily with an eerie gold. “You happen to have my friend in your grasp, so I would appreciate you releasing the little one.”

“Yeah, ya meanie…!” The little girl frowned, trying to pull away from the strange man as she gripped Meowdyn even tighter. Despite her trying to resist, Ardyn could tell by the way she looked from the man to Ardyn that she was terrified. “He wants to try finding Mama and hurting her, just like the other men do.”

“Other men?!” The man roared, now gripping the child by her curly hair and threatening to pick her up from his grip. She let out a scream in response, having to drop her doll so she could try prying his hand away. “Just how many other men did that whore screw? And which one of those bastards did she screw to make an irritating little bitch like you?”

_“That would be me.”_

The man was given little chance to react before he suddenly felt something grip his throat, pulling him away from the child and slamming him into the alley’s walls. What the hell? He was unable to move, arms thrashing about to try tearing at whatever was grappling him. But even then, his arms remained trapped, ankles unable to move too, even his throat caught and making it harder and harder to breath. His eyes surveyed the area for the source, looking down at the little girl who seemed just as confused and frightened as he was. But not for long. A shadow concealed the little girl, and appeared in the form of Ardyn, hat tilted downwards so only a crooked smile come be seen.

“Do you want to know something, sir? Something unique and fun that I’ve learned over these past few months is that the world is so full of light. Even if it’s a light as small as a child’s smile, their laughter, their hopes and happiness. It’s quite a blissful thing, wouldn’t you agree?” The way Ardyn spoke was a mixture of a low whisper and a vile hiss. A tone so menacing that you couldn’t tune it out. It shook the other man to the core, eyes visibly wide and terrified by the tone. The voice of a _demon._ “But something that I also learned is that as the light shines brighter…” Ardyn’s gaze finally turned upward to look at the man, golden eyes glowing as the darkness dripped from his blacked gaze, as if his face was melting into the darkness. His smile was twisted and crooked, a true monster. _“The shadows only become darker.”_

The man opened his mouth to scream, but Ardyn’s hand clamped itself over the man’s mouth, forming claws tearing into his flesh as the darkness Ardyn controlled threatened to tear through the man’s skin. No man that tried to hurt the little one would ever live to tell the story again. No one was justified in bringing such troubles to a little one, especially not his little one – his little light. And when his little light grew brighter and brighter every day, Ardyn wouldn’t hesitate to be the shadow that lingered behind her. A shadow would never leave her, remain at her side when it seemed like everyone else would leave her alone in the world. And as her line remains pure, he would take the darkness and become the monster that watches over her. Never would she be alone. Never would she be afraid. _Never-_

“Daddy, _stop!_ ” The sound of the little girl’s shriek was enough to snap Ardyn out of his trance. “You’re going to kill him…!”

He hadn’t noticed just how badly he was hurting the other man. Blood ran down his face, his arms and neck, falling to the ground in little droplets of crimson. That man looked terrible, torn up from the darkness and bruised by Ardyn’s grip on his face. Ardyn pulled his hand away, blood dripping from his claw-like fingers but nothing of his own. The darkness retreated as well, allowing the man to collapse to the ground before Ardyn turned to face the little girl. The look of horror in her eyes was enough to show Ardyn just how frightening he was. And when he looked into the reflection of himself in the glass window behind her… His face was still in its twisted and monstrous form, golden eyes widening as he looked back at the monster he was. An abyss that was twisted and haunting.

For the first time in centuries, Ardyn could feel his heart sink into the pits of his stomach.

The man looked down back at the little girl, only frightening her even more at the sight. Even when he tried to step forward to her, she stepped back, tripping over the toy cat doll until she fell onto her backside. Ardyn froze in his place and retracted her hand from her. He felt himself shaking, heart pounding to the point where he felt a pain in his chest. Ardyn’s breath was locked in his chest, having to physically grip at his chest where his heart was pounding before he staggered backwards and turning away from the child and the unconscious man. He didn’t know what he was feeling, but he didn’t like it. He didn’t like it one bit.

What was this feeling? Was he scared himself? No. He had nothing to be afraid of. He didn’t do anything wrong. He was just trying to protect her. Trying to help her and get that man away from her. And yet, why did she look at him like that? Why did she back away from him? Why did she look at him like he was some sort of monster?

“Daddy?” Ardyn jolted, digging into his shirt more and nearly tearing through it as he gasped aloud. Tugging on his sleeve caused his eyes to wander down to the shaky little girl. She seemed to shy away from his gaze for a moment, but she found comfort in holding onto the toy cat as tight as she could and Ardyn’s sleeve even tighter. And as she looked up at him, she seemed to relax even more as she noticed his golden gaze had faded and only remnants of black were left behind in dull streaks.

“Are you not afraid of me, little one…?” Ardyn slowly moved down to kneel before the child, trying not to make abrupt movements as if to frighten her. His hand adjusted to gently take hers into his, trying hard not to let any blood touch her skin. She was shaking just as badly as he was, something that made his chest twist even more at the thought. “If you wish to run from me, I won’t stop you.”

The child seemed to hesitate for a moment, but she soon shook her head. “I’m scared… But you look less scary when you cry. And if you’re crying… Then as your friend, I’m not supposed to let you keep crying.” She released Ardyn’s hand, making it so that the toy cat reached up with its paw and wiped away the black that stained his face. Ardyn hadn’t noticed the hot tears that had mixed in with it until he felt its fur dab at the corner of his eyes as well. Even more so now as the little girl looked at Ardyn before she wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed him tight. She was shaking again, gripping onto Ardyn’s coat as her voice choked out faint sobbing. “H-He was really scary. And he really hurt my arm, and my hair, and-and he scared Squishy too, and-and he wanted to hurt Mama too! I tried to be strong like you, but I really-!”

Ardyn was quick to turn away so that the child couldn’t look at the unconscious body behind him. He didn’t want her to linger on the thought of that man any linger. But with how kind the child was, how accepting she was despite her fear, Ardyn couldn’t help but feel his heart become lighter. The weight of the darkness faded, for his light shined and illuminated his word. His little light. Ardyn wrapped his arm around the little girl before he scooped her up into his arms, hugging her close as he tucked her head into his shoulder. “It’s alright, little one. I promise, men like him won’t ever hurt you or your mother again. I’ll make sure of it.”

“Does that mean you’ll have to look scary too…?”

Ardyn paused in his words, eyebrows furrowing before his gaze wandered downward. “Unfortunately, yes… If it means I must look scary, then I must.” He pulled away, tilting her head up and gently brushing his knuckle over her cheeks to wipe away the tears. “But I’ll make sure you never have to see that ever again. Pinky promise.” He held up his little finger to her, trying to offer a weak smile of reassurance to her.

The little girl gave a small nod, but she reached out with Meowdyn’s paw and pushed his hand down. “I-If you have to be scary, then I’ll just close my eyes and cover Meowdyn’s eyes. See?” She tried to be a bit humorous by acting out her words, closing her eyes as tight as she could before she pressed her hand to Meowdyn’s eyes.

A chuckle came from Ardyn in response, a smile cracking across his face now and breaking through his demeanor before he leaned down and kissed the top of her forehead. “Perfect. Whenever I become scary, just do that for me, alright?” This gave him just enough time to quickly leave the alleyway with the little girl in his arms, carrying her down the street. He never looked back at the man he left in the alleyway, but perhaps that was for the better. Even if the little one would be afraid of him for turning into that monster, at least he would know she was safe.

Because as his little light shined brighter, a shadow would linger not too far behind.

**Author's Note:**

> Starting to get into some heavier stuff in these writings after someone asked me about Tabby seeing Ardyn's daemon side. But hey, this was fun to write to balance out the cute antics between Ardyn and Tabby. I hope you enjoyed reading this, and hopefully I'll continue writing more with these two in the future!


End file.
